Pending - Passport requirements may be delayed until June 1, 2009 for cruiser returning from About This Page:

[dmpyron]

Amen, Dave.

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As far as the cruise industry is concerned, they're just worried that a few people might not cruise because of the cost and/or inconvenience of a passport applicaton. Even if people do qualify for the PASS card, it's not that much cheaper, and getting one won't be any more convenient. So, what's the real benefit to the consumer?

To add insult to injury, this change came too late for anyone who would be traveling at the end of 2006/early 2007.

There are more and more good reasons to have a passport. If you don't have one, it's a judgement call on the part of the border crossing official - is that photo ID and birth certificate valid? Passports issued worldwide for at least the past five years are computer-readable. One swipe through a slot and the border crossing official has all the info he/she needs, on screen. If you were a tired, harassed border crossing official, what would you prefer?


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It took us all of 1 minute to clear immigration with our passports a week and a half ago. Swipe, swipe, "welcome home, hope you had a nice trip". I saw a few people with birth certificates who weren't exactly hassled, but it clearly took them longer. The immigration officer has to manually enter all the information into the computer for each person in the party and wait for it to be pulled up. For a family of four this can take 5 minutes or longer. Then come the questions that are asked. "Who old are you, son"? The building where we were processed was unairconditioned. I can't imagine how happy the immigration officer was, standing around since 6:00 Sunday morning until after 10.


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Beyond all of this, I really wonder why the cruise industry wants a delay for any reason (other than the possible loss of a little business, which I doubt would really happen). When a ship enters a foreign port, it provides written certification to the local immigration authorities that it has checked the identities of its passengers. As far as I know, they also provide a full passenger list including passport numbers. When there is no passport, that means the cruise line is sticking out its own neck. I'd think a passport-or-nothing law relieves the cruise line of some potential legal liability.

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Dave, CLIA all but said it was a fear of losing some clients. But given the push for the last almost 2 years, very few people were cruising without passports. I hand out passport applications with every international trip I book.

The biggest push in the travel industry came from CLIA. It was almost as much as the senators and representatives from the border states. CLIA spent several million dollars lobbying against it.

Mexico was ready to require passports due to the immigration issues. I know that flying into Montreal was a breeze with a passport.

I also use my passport when I fly domestically. When I'm in LAX or ORD, the TSA agent knows exactly where to look, as opposed to scanning the whole driver's license to find my name.

I can't agree with you more on the security aspects. Add to that the opportunity to travel outside of the Western Hemisphere and passports make sense. Yes, they may seem expensive, but the cost is amortized over 10 years.

Dave, did you need a passport for Panama? I know Columbia now requires them.